Matt Ammerman/Madison College
Madison College built a 75,000-square-foot building off of Park Street for its latest campus.
When she moved from Uruguay to Wisconsin nearly 20 years ago, Claudia Castillo searched for employment in childcare services. She knew of other women who had supported themselves operating daycare centers from home, and considered the possibility of starting a business of her own. Instead, Castillo found work as a nanny, informally teaching Spanish to her clients’ young children — and developed an interest in early childhood language acquisition.
“My focus has been teaching Spanish to little kids. I want to help create a base for a second language early in life. Dual immersion programs work if students have a base of the language,” says Castillo. “The goal will be to open more bilingual schools.”
Now, Castillo is furthering her career by taking a bilingual early education program at Goodman South, the recently opened Madison College campus on the south side of Madison.
It’s students like Castillo that Madison College is hoping to support with its new campus, which is the culmination of a $25 million effort.
Madison College President Jack E. Daniels III, in remarks at the college’s Sept. 28 opening gala, emphasized the centrality of local populations of color in the college’s location, course work, and architectural design.
“This building was designed to serve the needs of the south Madison communities. As a college of the community, we want the college to reflect the major ethnic groups of south Madison: the African American community, the Latinx community, Hmong community, and the Ho-Chunk community,” said Daniels, citing the college’s push to commission works by artists of color and immigrants.
“Goodman South Campus is the most diverse campus of [Madison College’s] eight campuses,” Daniels added, “reflecting an enrollment of over 54 percent students of color coming from nearly 60 percent of the zip codes IDed in the south Madison area.”
The 75,000-square foot building is located off of Park Street, near the Beltline and across the street from Centro Hispano of Dane County. Isadore Knox, president of the South Metropolitan Planning Council, believes that the new campus will meet local demand for higher education and job training.
Among other programming, the new facility offers coursework in health sciences, business management, and early childhood education. Programs for English language learners are tailored to students’ needs and include “ESL for the Community,” “ESL for Technical Careers,” and “ESL for College Transfer.”
Students and staff at the Goodman South location say that they see the new campus as a resource to, and extension of, the surrounding community. Alejandra Bridges, a financial aid representative and student support person, says the college is working to make resources available to non-traditional students.
“This is a unique campus. I appreciate that it serves non-standard students — single parents, students over the age of 40, students starting their education later in life,” Bridges says. “There are classes at odd hours and all kinds of support to accommodate [those students].”
In addition to bilingual classes and accommodating class schedules, the college houses a legal clinic, which has already received 48 requests for immigration-related consultation, according to a staff member.
“This [campus] will help people gain skill sets, which is one reason why [the Planning Council] supported the initiative,” says Knox. The Council, an organization that serves 15 neighborhood associations, has also identified the new campus as a way to mitigate the effects of gentrification on the south side.
“Take for example the development coming up Park Street. How do we manage other instances of development so that it serves the neighborhood?” Knox says. “How can development serve residents but also invest in the neighborhood? That’s where [Madison College] comes into the picture.”
“You can’t stop gentrification, but you can manage it,” says Knox. In addition to community institutions like Madison College, “the city could do land-banking, where they purchase land and put a [request for proposals] on it to manage the type of development on that site, rather than have a developer buy it.”
The city is doing just that for the Truman Olson property at 1402 S. Park St., where it put out a request for proposals. Four proposals, each including a mix of housing, retail and grocery, were received in August. City staff hopes to have a recommendation complete this month, says Dan Rolfs, community development project manager.
Alice Herman
Claudia Castillo: “My focus has been teaching Spanish to little kids. I want to create a base for a second language early in life.”
In 2016, Madison College reviewed proposals to renovate the downtown campus or lease that location and open a new facility. Many college faculty, then-Mayor Paul Soglin and others opposed the closure of the downtown campus. City representatives called the Carroll Street campus “the most convenient location, particularly for students who cannot afford an automobile.”
Proponents of building a south campus included the Rev. Alexander Gee, founder of The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, and members of the Urban League of Greater Madison, who argued there was a need for a college on the historically underrepresented and underserved south side.
Madison College estimated that bringing the former downtown campus up to code would cost $30 million. So it decided to lease the historic downtown building — once the city’s Central High School — to the Missouri hotel chain, Drury Southwest. The college has a 50-year lease agreement with Drury (with the option to renew for another 48 years). The hotel company, which is paying for all the renovations to the building, will pay an escalating rental fee starting at $725,000 a year, according to Mark Thomas, the college’s chief financial officer and vice president of administrative services.
Full fall enrollment figures won’t be available until late October or November. But initial enrollment figures at Goodman South hit almost 1,900, surpassing the college’s goal by 300 students, the college reports. Spokesperson Bill Bessette says enrollment figures for all of the campuses are not yet available.
One student, Estefany Ventura, who works at the front desk at Goodman South and takes classes part-time, says that she “loves the new campus,” despite her initial apprehension at the prospect of relocating from downtown.
“I was very comfortable downtown, but I was surprised to see how homey and comfortable this campus is. Everything is together, the main offices are all centrally located,” says Ventura. “It’s a pretty decently sized campus, and yet we’re very connected.”
